TARPTAUTINĖ TERMINOLOGIJOS VASAROS MOKYKLA 2005

TERMINOLOGY MANAGEMENT: THEORY, PRACTICE AND APPLICATION

In July 2005, the International Summer School on Terminology was held in Cologne. Terminology Management: Theory, Practice and Application. The organizers of this annual training event were the Institute for Information Management at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and Termnet – the International Network for Terminology; the lecturers were distinguished professors from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, and the USA. More than 30 participants from around the world attended the five-day theoretical and practical training: translators, lecturers, researchers, students, and employees of national and European Union institutions.

Lectures covered the concepts of term, terminology, and terminological management, methods and tools for terminology management, types of tools, translation work, and copyright. In practical sessions, participants were introduced to terminology management systems and taught how to use them. In lecture series entitled Fundamentals of Theory: Models, Concepts, Terms, Objects and Terminology Work, Heribert Picht, professor at the Copenhagen Business School, drawing on the standards of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), introduced attendees to the basic concepts of terminology: specialist communication, special language, terminology, the functions of terminology, and terminological systems. Having defined the concepts of term and terminology work, he emphasized the main principles of term formation: linguistic principles (clarity, systematicity, correctness, conformity with word-formation patterns, unambiguity, brevity, clear motivation, and convenience), sociolinguistic principles (usefulness, aesthetic quality, and conformity with language policy), and methodological principles (development with subject-field specialists, conformity with existing models, use of the resources of one’s own language, and conformity with the terminology system).

In lectures entitled Concept Relations, Systems, Ontologies and the Creation of the Global Semantic Web: From Terminology to Ontologies and Knowledge Organization Systems, Gerhard Budin, professor at the University of Vienna, raised issues relating to concept relations and concept systems, and argued that both terminology and ontologies aim to manage data and process and organize information. Ontology development programs OntoEdit, CORPORUM, and CIDOC CRM were presented. The lecture A Multilingual Risk Management Terminology Reference System discussed a terminology project being developed through collaboration among various international institutions and organizations. The IRGC reference system glossary is broad

¹ In computing, an ontology is a formal specification of the set of concepts in a particular domain, that is, an enumeration or list of concepts with indications and descriptions.

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in scope and covers various fields, social groups, languages, cultures, and texts. This glossary draws primarily on the contexts of terms and the links between terms and texts, as well as translations, with a particular focus on definitions, concept models, and ontologies. He emphasized that the main forms of terminology management in this project involve interpreting and describing cultural and linguistic diversity.

Sue Ellen Wright, professor at Kent State University in the USA, introduced the concepts of workflow and project planning in her lecture Terminology Management and discussed the general objectives of terminology management. She gave examples of traditional, rational, and universal terminology management. She emphasized that terminology management is carried out by project managers, linguists specializing in terminology, and subject-field specialists. The professor identified the following stages of terminology management: term submission, term record creation, data entry, modification (updating or changing), review (by a terminologist or subject-field specialist), approval or removal, standardization, and publication. She introduced computer-based terminology management systems, including SDL WorkFlow Service, Trados TeamWorks, Star Translation Workflow Server, Lionstream Workflow, and others. The lecture Terminology Management Data Categories covered the structure of terminology databases, terminology data, their arrangement and levels, and other data categories; the lecture Definitions and Context addressed the components of definitions, standard spelling conventions, and the shortcomings of definitions in databases. She emphasized that a definition of a term or concept must always refer to the subject field.

In the lecture Term Recognition, Professor Sue Ellen Wright discussed online terminology resources and stated that the accuracy, reliability, and currency of online sources must always be assessed. The search engine Google presents problems of synonymy and homonymy, while online dictionaries raise issues of source reliability and instability. Search results must be assessed from both semantic and terminological perspectives; that is, the meaning, usage, synonyms, abbreviations, equivalents, and definitions of the term found must be considered. The professor said that the CARS criteria should be applied: reliability, that is, an assessment of the credibility of the website’s author or sponsor; and accuracy and validity, meaning its relationship to other recognized information sources. One lecture was also devoted to the economic aspects of terminology. The lecture Copyright in Terminology Management addressed the main principles of copyright and the types of intellectual property that are and are not protected. The role of the terminologist in terminology work was considered, as was what copyright does and does not protect in terminology management. It was reported that the legal protection of databases and their contents is provided for in European Parliament and Council Directive 96/9/EC.

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Professor Frieda Steurs (Lessius Hogeschool) spoke about issues involved in translating medical terminology. Translations in the medical fields account for the largest share of all translations; classification systems are very important—for example, biomedicine has more than 19,000 classifications. She introduced the classification systems WHOART, Snomed, ICD & ICD-9-CM, and other sources. Translators of medical terminology need to critically evaluate sources, specialist and general dictionaries, encyclopedias, and journals. The lecture Technical Documentation focused mainly on individual translation techniques. To produce and translate technical documents well, one must check sources, manage terminology, and pay attention to content.

Professor Klaus Dirk Schmitz of Cologne University of Applied Sciences spoke about terminology databases in his lecture Data Modelling. To create a useful database, appropriate data categories must be selected and suitable data relationships anticipated. He emphasized that terminology management can be successfully implemented by selecting the appropriate data categories, modelling term entries appropriately, and choosing a suitable terminology management tool or software. In the lecture Terminology Management Systems, he spoke about the importance and benefits of terminology databases. After presenting examples of the software Multiterm and TermStar, he focused primarily on the challenges of creating terminology databases. After briefly reviewing the history of the development of terminology management systems, he outlined their types: systems with defined and undefined entry structures. The professor stated that new terminology management systems are not adapted to specific use cases, such as the needs of small groups or teaching. To create a suitable database structure, one should follow ISO standards: ISO 704, ISO 1087, ISO 12620, ISO 12200. The lecture Software Localization Terminology discussed how clear, well-motivated, and consistent terminology, and its development, facilitate the use of software.

In the practical sessions, participants were taught mainly to work with the terminology management software Multiterm—to plan a database structure, select data categories, and create an individual database. Certificates were presented to the summer school participants, and at the closing discussion they shared their experiences and impressions. The International Terminology Summer School is especially useful for those interested in practical terminology who mainly deal with the translation of terms, document management, and database creation.

Robertas STUNŽINAS Lithuanian Language Institute P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius Email: [email protected]

Received 2005-12-09

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